Lifeline
by PetitDejeuner
Summary: He would catch her from the fall, but he wouldn’t stop her from tripping. [NaruSaku] [Oneshot Drabble]


Author's Note: I've never really done a non-platonic NaruSaku piece, so I thought I might try it out, just for fun. The couple's kind of endearing, actually, and though it's not one of my absolute favorites, I could easily see it happening in the real story. So why not give it a shot? Hope you enjoy this little drabble/one-shot!

P.S.-- Minor spoilers included.

Disclaimer: Do I really need to say it? Don't own Naruto.

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_Lifeline_

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He was her lifeline.

That particular truth hit her when she was lying next to him on the hill overlooking the valley just next to the Hokage sculptures, the two of them on their backs, next to one another, silent and watching the sun disappear over the rugged edges of the earth the night before they went to go find Sasuke and Itachi.

Sakura was slightly disturbed by the thought-- it was almost as if she was in love with Naruto, and she knew that simply _could not, IS not-- god damn it, IT CAN'T_-- be the truth. But she was suddenly very much aware of the way her golden-haired friend always seemed to be there for her, whether in times of physical injury (of which she was becoming prone), mental or emotional crises, or simply whenever she needed a friend… someone not quite as girly as Ino, not quite as serious as Shikamaru or Neji, someone closer than TenTen or Lee, someone calmer than Hinata. Naruto always seemed to read her moods perfectly-- when she was mad, he provoked her into a punch that would dissipate her anger but leave him with a black eye; when she was sad, he always managed to say something stupid or incredibly funny to cheer her up or distract her; when she was happy, he was gleefully happy with her, sharing in her ecstasy no matter what his own mood was.

And even though she had yelled at him when they were younger, though she had always dismissed him for Sasuke, though she had never realized his potential until it was too late, though she had done each and every thing she could think of to block his advances, he still loved her… for who she was, for the Sakura-chan that _hated_ having her hair long and _hated_ dresses and _hated_ people who were afraid to show emotion. Not the Haruno Sakura that grew her hair and wore a dress for a boy who was frightened to feel.

Over the two-and-a-half years Naruto was gone, every day was like a stab in the heart for Sakura-- a day without being begged for ramen money, a day without being practically dragged all throughout Konoha just so he could show her a flower, the only one of its kind he saw under an old tree. A day without sunshine, a day without cool breezes, a day without the exquisite happiness she felt whenever she saw those deep and clear cerulean-blue eyes turn themselves to her green ones, piercing her through as if they knew all her thoughts and could see right through her façades and right into the Sakura she was hiding beneath them.

He let her make her mistakes, of course… she had been in her fair share of relationships or had attempted her fair share of failed jutsu that he'd watched with slightly sad, slightly appraising, slightly loving eyes, and when she'd asked him furiously why he hadn't told her she was doing something wrong, his only answer had been an infuriating shrug. But that was Naruto's way… he would catch her from the fall, but he wouldn't stop her from tripping.

She looked at him, turned her head towards him, and was struck suddenly by how stunningly gorgeous he was. His skin seemed to glow with perpetual tan, his eyes shone as liquid sapphires. His golden hair looked silky and strangely gravity-defying…

Not really knowing what she was doing, Sakura rolled over so she was crouching on her knees. Naruto looked up at her, smiling slightly at the motion, his smile lazy and sunlit. Sakura leaned over and reached behind his head, untying the long cloth that held his hitai-ate still. She took it away, and the Uzumaki shinobi frowned in confusion, sitting up, grasping her wrist, and opening his mouth to speak.

She silenced him with one finger on his lips.

Naruto didn't know what was happening, but he knew he shouldn't talk. The wind rustled around them, satin caresses on his exposed arms-- he'd been using his jacket as a pillow. He kept his hold on her wrist, enjoying the feel of her pulse beating against his fingers-- he could encircle the whole wrist with only his thumb and index finger. Life, that's what was there. Life.

Sakura was his lifeline.

She was always there for him-- or at least she was, now… whenever he got hurt, he would go to her, hospital or not, and she would always heal him… usually with a gruff reminder to watch where he was going or use some fucking _sense_, but he knew that her reprimands were really an expression of her usual care and concern. Whenever he was feeling down, she would try her best to cheer him up-- or push him around a bit to whip him back into shape if he was simply being sorry for himself.

Although she hadn't been the kindest to him back when they were genin (or _she_ was genin, anyway, he still hadn't taken that damned chuunin test…)-- actually, she hadn't given a damn about him-- she had been what sustained him even then. While he'd been gone, every day without her was like a day without night, without the cool moonlight of her gaze or the way he felt like stars exploded in his stomach whenever she gave him a smile… without the soft, comforting chill to calm his fire… without, even, her icy fury, the familiarity of that arctic anger.

Sakura most definitely did not have had the stunning beauty of her friend Ino, or even the shy grace of Hinata… the boisterous sex appeal of Temari of the Sand, or the quiet and cute confidence of TenTen. And yet she was everything they were not: she was comfortable with her humble beauty, laughed at her own clumsiness, flaunted her own seductiveness, was confident in her ability to charm. True, her forehead was ever going to be big and her stature was ever going to be small-- even now, the top of her head barely reached his chin-- but she had beautiful eyes and a pout of a mouth, a delicate but firm jaw line and a cheerful lift to her cheekbones. She had a little more chubbiness to her than other kunoichi, but she was strong and proud of her body, and she was all the more lovable because of it.

He loved her, he depended on her… she was the thing he always grasped for, his lifeline.

And now, Naruto sat in absolute astonishment as she took his hand in hers, softly kneading his palms, the fleshy area between thumb and first finger. He couldn't bring himself to protest as she put his hitai-ate aside, couldn't bring himself to fight back as she elegantly twisted her wrist from his grip and placed both her palms against his open hands. Her hands were small… he could bend his fingers to curl over hers. But what strength lay in those fists…!

Still gazing into those jade orbs, Naruto reached around her head and untied her own hitai-ate, placing it next to his and watching her hair fall to her face like a shimmering pink curtain. Now they weren't shinobi, not genin Uzumaki or chuunin Haruno… now they were simply Naruto and Sakura, as they were born, as they came, as they really were.

Suddenly, it didn't matter to Naruto that they were leaving tomorrow on a quest to find their ex-teammate… a quest that might just turn up fruitless, like the last, because she would be with him and as long as she stayed with him it would be okay. And it didn't matter that she hadn't given him the time of day when they were twelve, because now she gave him every millisecond to make up for it.

He put his hands on her face, rubbing his thumbs beneath her cheekbones before taking them down to her neck, feeling her pulse, the steady, comforting _bum-bump, bum-bump_ of her life's blood.

Lifeline.

He didn't know what he was doing… all he knew was that he had tilted her head and that she had gasped and that they had both closed their eyes and that there was a pressure on his mouth that hadn't been there before and she tasted like moonlight and starlight and everything mysterious and good and Sakura and _oh her lips are cool and she tastes like the moon_…

Sakura was still in a state of shock at the feeling of his lips on hers, the way his hands flitted almost nervously from her face to her neck to her shoulders to her hips and back up again. He was like the sun, his lips warm and moist and lovely and there was a hint of ramen on his tongue as it brushed against her lower lip and what was this feeling in her chest?

And they separated…

_His eyes are blue so blue oh blue…_

And Sakura was smiling and Naruto was laughing and sweeping in to steal another kiss, which she gladly gave him… and they were lying down again, trading sweet kisses that balanced each other with their passionate chill and loving fire. Their hands were clasped, and they weren't looking at the sun anymore (it had already set anyway) but at each other, in each other's eyes, green into blue and blue into green.

Naruto lifted their connected hands and kissed Sakura's share of it, a smile alighting on his face, the same smile Sakura always saw, the one she realized was just for her.

Always there for her…

_She's always there for me…_

A lifeline.


End file.
